At a macro level, the world of business is relatively simple.
Chief Executives want their people to understand what matters, care deeply about their customers, and produce the outcomes the business requires their job to deliver.
What they don’t want is for staff to pretend they’re busy, make excuses, or turn their backs on issues they see as someone else’s problem.
As simple as this sounds, it’s not happening – or at least not everywhere.
Reality on the ground
While there has always been a sense of frustration amongst executives that people aren’t doing what the company needs them to do, there has generally been enough fat in the system to offset the cost of poor performance.
This time, however, it’s different. This time, organisations across industry are at risk of failing because of inaction, inefficiencies that are never addressed, and constant misses that add up to shortfalls the market will no longer tolerate.
Combined with a subdued outlook and an oversupply of almost everything, and it’s easy to see why Chief Executives are feeling the pinch like never before.
Where’s the help?
Despite the fact organisations are typically full of competent, well-intentioned people, the role of the Chief Executive has become harder. While this can, in part, be attributed to the market, the concern we’re seeing is the fact they’re feeling more isolated than ever as their people edge closer to their respective functions rather than co-owning the change the organisation needs to deliver.
While functional responsibility is critical, it cannot be at the expense of the organisation’s governance otherwise the business not only fractures at the top, it leaves CE’s feeling like they’re on their own rather than being supported by a team who are prepared to share the load.
This not only exacerbates the siloes most organisations experience, it leads to structural dissidence that permeates the business.
For those on the front line, it says to them to keep their heads down. To assume that someone above them will fix the problem if it matters and that staying in your lane is the best place to be.
However, for CE’s, it’s the opposite of what they know their company needs.
They know the challenges they’re facing today require their people to own outcomes not hide behind a job description as way of protection.
Despite people’s tendency to try and keep the peace, organisations need their people to stand up; to address the issues they’re facing, not kick them over the fence or walk past them as if they’re meant for someone else.
They also need their people to help the company get ahead of its problems by thinking about how it can get better, be better, and, ultimately, deliver better work.
The test
A test I have often run past Chief Executives is ‘if a crisis were to hit, who would you rely on?’
If it’s not their team in totality, then something’s wrong - and yet that’s almost always the case.
In other words, most CE’s will have one or two people they will turn to, to help them address the things they’re worried about. The rest, they would prefer not to include because they know it will either overwhelm them, take them away from the other things they still have to deliver, or because they know they will have little to add so there’s no point engaging them.
So what’s the answer?
Like most things, the answer to the deeper performance and productivity challenge organisations are facing is clearer expectations and greater accountability.
In other words, it’s about everyone in the business understanding what needs to be done and doing it. Not some of the time or in places, but everywhere, everyday.
However, to achieve this, organisations need to change the way they work. Instead of placing the blame on others, executives need to see what’s happening across the company as a consequence of a) their leadership and b) the operating systems they’re using.
Get these things right, and anything is possible. However, until they are right, seeing fundamental changes on the ground will likely remain out of reach irrespective of an organisation’s capability or potential.